London-based visual artist, curator, and writer.
London, UK
Joined January 2008
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She appears to be balancing on a knife. I need both hands, a count of three to get off my chair. Two fractured vertebrae have changed the way I look at paintings. This Qajar acrobat has given me plenty to think about.
arefadib.substack.com/p/a-ba…
Went to see the Bayeux Tapestry @britishmuseum and ended up thinking of Tintin. Ships, promises and trouble abroad. I half expected Thomson and Thompson to turn up and arrest the wrong king. Read the full piece on my Substack. arefadib.substack.com/p/tint…
I wasn't expecting to see Michelangelo during England's bronze-medal match. Then Jude Bellingham stood on the touchline.
A few minutes later he scored a magnificent goal.
A moment made for marble. arefadib.substack.com/p/numb…
A personalised registration for a city that never issued one. Love, #Tehran substack.com/home/post/p-201…
I made this image as a joke: somewhere between Tehran and London, sitting cross-legged on a Persian rug like the Dude from #TheBigLebowski. Honestly, if you grew up in an Iranian household, you know the rug really does tie the room together. open.substack.com/pub/arefad…
🤖 Made with AI
On walking slowly, carrying a cane, and being seen open.substack.com/pub/arefad…
Nowruz Bazaar – 14 & 15 March
• Free Talks – 14 March
• Nowruz Family Day – 15 March
• Rumi's nighg – 16 March
• Maydan Ensemble – 19 March
• Iran +100 Book Event – 24 March
Plus free exhibitions and much more
#LauderdaleHouse #NowruzFestival
Since 1979, violence has defined the Islamic Republic’s rule. The images emerging now feel like Goya’s. Not art, but evidence. A record that will outlive power.
arefadib.substack.com/p/the-…
My Iranian version of ‘We Are Becoming Many’ a print by Egil Storeide, seen a few days ago at the #NordicNoir exhibition @britishmuseum arefadib.substack.com/p/we-a…
The internet forgets quickly. Platforms rise, flatten, disappear. But occasionally, it remembers just enough to return something intact. arefadib.substack.com/p/i-di…
Today Ahmad Shamlu would have been one hundred. I am thinking about him from London, a city he also lived in briefly in the late 1970s, editing the Persian language paper Iranshahr while in exile. open.substack.com/pub/arefad…
A photo I took of shole zard spelling “Merry Christmas” in cinnamon once went viral. It made me think about how taste becomes ritual. arefadib.substack.com/p/shol…
The first World Cup I remember was 1970, Pelé drifting through the static of our B&W TV in Tehran, turning football into something luminous even without colour. That year two teams captured my imagination #PersepolisFC & @Arsenal arefadib.substack.com/p/my-t…
Found this Qajar puppet photo on the @NatAsianArt website and it was like bumping into old friends. While colourising it, the puppets looked as if they were leaning in for a chat. arefadib.substack.com/p/when…
There are songs that travel with you like objects. You do not pack them, but they are always in your suitcase. For me, one of those is Soghati, Hayedeh’s aching song of love, distance and memory.
arefadib.substack.com/p/sogh…
youtube.com/watch?v=MffSoYfv…
